Today's Paper
» NATIONAL
» ANDHRA PRADESH

Left to protest against petrol price hike

HYDERABAD: Demanding that the Centre roll back the hike in prices of petroleum products, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the CPI have asked their leaders and cadre to take to the agitational path against the hike.

Opposing the latest hike in a statement issued here, CPI (M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu expressed concern that the petrol price hike would result in steep increase in prices of essential commodities imposing additional burden on the common man. The government could do away with the hike if it was prepared to forego Rs. 40,000 crore additional revenue accrued from the petroleum prices.

Though the government had been advised to rationalise the tax structure instead of allowing hike in tax every time there was hike in the prices of petroleum products, it was not considering the repeated requests made in this regard, he added.

CPI State Secretary K. Narayana said the hike will burden more than 50 per cent of people earning less than Rs. 20 a day.